Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson

DEBATE NIGHT

Alright guys, I'm pretty fired up about this first debate so please for the love of god, don't hate me. I'm in a mood.

What I drank prior: A bottle of wine plus 1/3 of a yummy craft beer and one miller lite. Yes. Drunk. Yes. Pissed because demon-spawn. Deal with it.

Spoiler-free overview:
Okay, so there're like, two princesses. One's supposed to marry god-king Susebron, the other is a fre spirited kid. For some stupid reason her dad is all "free-spirited's gotta marry the god-king to prevent war." seems stupid but yeah. free spirited girl's named Siri, other sis is named Vivenna. Siri's all like, why does dad hate me? gotta produce an heir for god-king. Vivenna's all like, gotta save Siri. V goes to find the spies of her kingdom to be able to find the best way to save the sis. She finds these mercenaries who are pretty hysterical. S on the other hand is tryna get to know her new man. Turns out, he's not what people think. Adventures happen. It's a thing.

Spoiler-free thoughts:
This book is like a breathe of fresh air. I loved it so much. Just such a pleasure to read.

Plot: So look. I can't decide if this book was plot driven or character driven. It was so well balanced that i couldnt' handle it. The plot had a twist that i didn't see coming, which is hard to do cause I'm like.... a master fantasy reader. But like, i loved it. Also, if you love the cosmere, the written language is the same as Stormlight. k.

Characters: I was so appreciative of Sanderson and his care of his female characters. In Mistborn, the female characters were only strong because they were more masculine. In Warbreaker, the female characters were strong because they were strong. I lvoed it. I also super loved the mercenaries and even the villain.

Writing Style: It's His Holiness Sanderson. 'nuff said.

World Building: At times i was a little confused about the world but by the end i was like, this is legit.

SPOILERS:

Yo, so, the plot twist with the mercenaries was legit. There wasnt' enough evidence to hate them. Literally, we were seeing through the naive eyes of the narrator which i thought was brilliant. Also, I LOVED THE FUCKIGN SWORD. Why? no idea. but the sword was so damn genuine i couldnt help but love it.

Also, Denth had the hair?! da fuck was that about? does that mean he was like the greatest grandpa ever? Loved. It.

Lastly, super cool that Vasher was like... THE guy. I knew he was important but not why. Loved that.

Rating: 5/5 shots. This book was just such a pleasure to read. I am so pleased to have read it.

What to pair it with: literally anything that's your fave.  beer probs. i feel best about fantasy and beer.

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The Devil You Know

The Devil You Know
by Mike Carey

So, starting out: I read the first two books of the Dresden Files which follows a similar formula.  There's a guy who deals with supernatural stuff.  My problem is that the Dresden Files made it seem like everything was truly insurmountable, and at some point I got tired of the main character beign basically at deaths door.  This book didn't make every matter a life or death circumstance, though plenty were, which I enjoyed.  But for writing for this, I had a few Oktoberfest beers.  Woohooo it's Oktoberfest (which is celebrated in September even thought it's freakin Oktoberfest.... sure).  Had a "congratulations, you're moving to another law firm" celebration for a coworker.

Spoiler Free Plot
An exorcist gets called it to exorcise a ghost from an archive.  I feel like his landlord/friend is going to end up beign a bigger character later in the series but that's for another time.  As he tries to figure out what is going down with this ghost he starts to suspect a pimp, a member of the library archive and another exocist.  There's also a few people who work at the archive: Cheryl (who's sweet, but sassy,), Rich (who' basically the normal one), Jon (the guy who in high school would have sat in the corner by himself in all black) and the two supervisors.  Shit goes down.  As always.  This is a fun read because while things are life-threatening the book doesn't try to make you think he's going to die at every corner.  Also, it seems like the way the exorcisms happen are personal to the exorcist which isnt' something I woudl have expected (this is slightly out of the range of what I normally read, but...)  It follows a fairly normal paranormal plotline where things start minor and increase in scope but it doesn't get irritating to see how the scope increases.

Spoiler plot:

I must admit, there's probably not much in this section this time.  At this point it shoud be clear that the pimp and the exocricst are working together.  And abuout halfwar through the book I realized it was obvious which archive employee was secrelty evil... Signs had been pointed towards one character being the dick to end all dicks but it clearly wasn't him because of course the "nice" character has to all sorts of secret fucked up.  I was a bit disappointed by that even through Jon was a clear red herring, I kind of hoped Rich woudl be normal but that's what you get.

Rating:
I would probably give this book a 3.5 out of 5 shots.  It's nothing particuarly new or groudbreaking within it'sgenre but I liked it better than other intstances of this genre (mainly the Dresden Files book - the second book was so tiring and I can't quite describe why...)


Drink:
I'm having trouble coming up with a  drink for this book.  Mostly'I'm trying to come up with a type of alcohol that only works for a short period of time.  I was happy with the end of the book until it was over at which point I started to look back and it... this is vodka cranberry.  The most basic drink becuase you don't feel like drinking beer or wine but you want something simple that you don't have to think about and you sometimes but don't always regret it in the mornig... is that a good description?


I want to make it clear, I am reading the next book in this series (at least it's on my to read list, no promises that I'll get there).  I'm just not sure it was as satisvying an end as it could have been.  But then again,I'm just glad that death wasn't around every corner, even if dismembermenet was!

As always, happy readings,
Ginny

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Romancing the Duke

Romancing the Duke 

by Tessa Dare

I have to admit, I love romance novels. I will read them like crazy between the autobiographies and slightly heavier material becuase it is obvious what is going to happen. Clearly the main characters are going to fall it love. And by god I drank a number of Costco margaritas before I wrote this so I am wholey and totally into writing this review because dear god was this the right kind of ridiculous book.

Spoiler Free Plot:
This book is a bit absurt for so many reasons.  The main charaters are a  blind duke, who has decided to hide himself away from society becuase, reasons?  the other main character is the daughter of a famous childrens novelist (spoielrs behind the cut, duh) who is penniless but for various nefarious reasons inheirts the castle the duke is living in because yet again, reasons.  Romance novels are often  plot lines that revolve around things behind highly unlikelye and yet I love them anyway.  They decide to live in the castle together because they both think they own it, and get it on in the meantime (like that's any surprise... it's a goddamn romance novel... if they don't get it on it's probably because it's a 'Christian Romance Novel' or its written by my friend who is so pure that she blushes at someone saying blow-job in her general direction (which, yes, we do often becuase its funny)).  The rest of the plot is mostly unnecessary to describe becasue yet agarin romance novel.  Anyone who doesn't realize they end up happy in the end should email me for recommendations because dear lord, all romance novels end up happy).

Spoilered Plot:

Okay, I'll admit, I have a fondness for books where the lady is "I know what I'm getting into" thinking it's going to be a one night stand and the dude has heart eyes becuase he's totally in love but emotionally stupid and doesn't know how to say this and that is this book in a nutshell.  At some point she literaly talks about being a spinster and therefore unloveable and his innenr monologue is "i;ll show her someday" becuase he fucking lvoes her and its ridiculous and makes me happy at the same time.  There;s really not much to spoiler.  He, in the ened, appreciates all the friends that she's made through stories that her father (oh wait, not actually a spoiler, she wrote herself) wrote, and that helps to save his fortune and their fututre.  The entire book is a bit silly but dear god do I buy into every second the them say "I shoudln't do this" and then ignoring their own advice.

Rating:
I honestly don't know how to rate this.  It's fun, if  a bit silly book, but it breaks out of a few romance tropes.  Maybe a Riesling.  You know it's going to be sweet, but it has a bit of tartness that surprises you.  Maybe a 3.5 out of 5.  Cute, broke some tropes but not enough to make me really happy (though I coudl go with a 4 out of 5 if someone actually got me a reisling)

Drinking Suggestion:
Lot's of wine.  Choose one you like and start drinking.  This doesn't have lot of gratuitous scenes to maybe something softer, seriously my suggestion/rating of a reisling is a good idea. 

Happy Drinking, Ginny 

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These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

HI EVERYONE!

Firstly, we're trying really hard to make this blog look not sucky. Please offer any help/suggestions you may have... we're bad at this and my manfriend (well versed in HTML) wants $1000. Obviously ridiculous.

ANYWHO time for the book.

What I drank prior to the review: 4 heavily poured margaritas. I made the margaritas with a splash of the blueberry.

Spoiler-free Overview:
So, this book is about two people, Tarver and Lilac stuck on a deserted planet. They're tryna get home. Legit. That's it.

Okay fine... back story, Tarver is a military hero who was raised poor. Lilac is a SUPER rich girl. They meet on basically a space cruise, shit went down. And by "shit" i mean the spaceship. Literally. Torn out of hyperspace and crashed. Tarver and Lilac are stranded on this abandoned planet tryna find a way to put out a rescue signal so they can be rescued. Adventures happen.

Spoiler-free thoughts:
I quite enjoyed this book. I had my moments of suspense, trying to figure out what was going to happen next. I enjoyed trying to predict what was going to happen (though, terribly mistaken). Also, CAN WE TALK ABOUT HOW PRETTY THE COVER IS??????

Plot: I think the plot was great. The mystery of it is what kept me going. A+

Characters: Alright. So the characters were a little flat for me. I think this is personal to me though. Like, there's no way that someone's personality changes in the course of a couple hours. Right? Tarver kept being like "that's my Lilac" BUT SHE WASN'T. She was still the same person as a couple hours before. Sure, a spaceship crash is going to change people, but in one of two ways. One, through PTSD. If it were PTSD, there's no way she could have done the things she did. Two, strength to move forward. That one requires (in my opinion) several years experience to automatically default to. Like Tarver. He'd sorta been through this before. So I can totally understand the strength bit.

Their interactions were pretty funny and adorable at times. I'll give them that.

Writing Style: I really enjyoed the writing style. They had these bits where Tarver is talking to an interoggator post-event that helped move the plot's mystery along. Well done.

Spoiler thoughts:

So, if you've read this book, thanks for joining me here. I have so many thoughts about this. What happened to the whispers? And what the hell about Lilac? I mean, I get she's not the "real" her, but is she? I'm so confused about this plot twist. Also, she says something liek "if you don't follow my rules, you'll never speak to me again" to her dad. BITCH SHOULDNT TALK TO HIM EVER ANYWAY!! She's a goddamned ghost-walker-white-walker-zombie-thing and he's the reason why. OF COURSE he should be shut out of her life. I mean... COME ON.

Also, I really loved their love bit, because I'm trash. I don't usually like the YA predictable love, but this time for some reason i did and i love it. HEARTEYES

Rating: 3.5/5 Shots. Like, you WANT the fourth one, but you know that if you do, you'll vomit. Kinda how I feel about the relationship discussed inthe spoilery section.

What to pair it with: one of those drinsk that has an umbrella that you're embarrassed that you love. because i LOVED this and no one can tell me i'm wrong

Until next time i remain drunkenly yours,
Sam

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